Transponder-based appratus for space-time identification and location

The present invention relates to the field of dual-band responder systems, named “transponders”.

More specifically, the invention relates to a dual-band transponder-based apparatus for space-time identification and location that carries out the data exchange between a query device and one or more responders, being located within an appropriate distance range from said query device.

There are currently available transponder apparatuses formed by a query device (BOA) and at least one responder device (TAG) in a wireless two-way communication, wherein said (BOA) and said (TAG) are provided with means for communicating through two separate channels, one of which is for the (BOA) to activate the (TAG) being located in a predetermined activation area (MFP) and the other two-way one is to exchange data between (BOA) and said (TAG) within a second data exchange area (RFP).

Such an apparatus is described in European Patent Application n. EP1209615 submitted by the same applicant of the present application.

Typical applications of apparatuses as the previously described one are all those in which a data exchange between a query device and a responder is required, after such a request is transmitted by either of the two.

Examples of use may be access-check and existence-check computer gates and the data exchange within a given region between a user and a determined device such as a personal computer, a peripheral device, a storage unit etc.

There are not included in the scopes related to the state of the art devices, all the applications in which it is required to correlate a space identification, already carried out by these devices, to a time identification, by the transponder or responder, so as to render its location single, both in terms of space and in terms of time.

Examples of state of the art devices adapted to perform said time identification are disclosed in the following documents: EP542509 (BIANCO JAMES ET AL) discloses a similar system in which a plurality of transmitter located throughout a travel route broadcast a location number uniquely identifying that transmitter and its location. When a receiver, located on an object or on a user being monitored, detects the carrier frequency of a transmitter, activates a microprocessor which stores into a memory the ID number of that transmitter and date and time of the transmission. When the receiver is taken to a home base said memory can be unloaded and the travel route determined and analyzed. The system is single frequency and no further data, beside a trivial battery status of the transmitter, is broadcasted with obvious limitations. EP1376272 (ASTRA GES FUER ASSET MAN MBH) discloses a method and a device for automatic timing in sport events based on the use of transponders—provided to each participant to the sport event—carrying an ID which is transmitted to a receiver upon finishing of the sport event and associated with a recorded time. The data transmitted and received relates only to ID and time, they are stored in a memory located on the receiver device and later evaluated and verified as error-free. Again the system is working with a single frequency channel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,357 (CARROLL GARY ET AL) discloses a portable device that is capable of storing a time log related to the places where the person wearing said device has been. The architecture of the device according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,357 is single frequency and the signals transmitted and received have a limited range and they only concern an unique code which is time-logged into a memory element contained within the portable receiving unit of the device. A computer is needed to analyze data logqed within the units of the device according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,357 and the characterizing part of claim one concerns a particular way of processing the above data. None of the above documents discloses a device which is adapted to perform communication on a multi frequency double link and is provided with means to temporally mark every data exchanged and to further manage external memory devices and external parametric sensors in a compact and portable fashion without requiring external post-processing devices.

Many could be the potential uses of such an apparatus, ranging from the timing determinations in sport competitions to the management of stocks, to the real-time control and management of commercial yielders, to the management and control

The present invention relates to the field of dual-band responder systems, named “transponders”.

More specifically, the invention relates to a dual-band transponder-based apparatus for space-time identification and location that carries out the data exchange between a query device and one or more responders, being located within an appropriate distance range from said query device.

There are currently available transponder apparatuses formed by a query device (BOA) and at least one responder device (TAG) in a wireless two-way communication, wherein said (BOA) and said (TAG) are provided with means for communicating through two separate channels, one of which is for the (BOA) to activate the (TAG) being located in a predetermined activation area (MFP) and the other two-way one is to exchange data between (BOA) and said (TAG) within a second data exchange area (RFP).

Such an apparatus is described in European Patent Application n. EP1209615 submitted by the same applicant of the present application.

Typical applications of apparatuses as the previously described one are all those in which a data exchange between a query device and a responder is required, after such a request is transmitted by either of the two.

Examples of use may be access-check and existence-check computer gates and the data exchange within a given region between a user and a determined device such as a personal computer, a peripheral device, a storage unit etc.

There are not included in the scopes related to the state of the art devices, all the applications in which it is required to correlate a space identification, already carried out by these devices, to a time identification, by the transponder or responder, so as to render its location single, both in terms of space and in terms of time.

Many could be the potential uses of such an apparatus, ranging from the timing determinations in sport competitions to the management of stocks, to the real-time control and management of commercial yielders, to the management and control of resources, materials, and people in both civil and military logistics, from the control of the movements of instrumentation and apparatuses supplied to laboratories and offices to the control for statistic purposes of the circulation of a given group of people within a determined working area.

Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to introduce a transponder apparatus comprised of a query device and at least a responder device in a wireless two-way communication characterised in that the responder device includes means to temporally mark every data exchange carried out by means of said query device.